Gate of the Huntress
by TimeLadyDemigod
Summary: What if when Zoe Nightshade died, she became a celestial spirit. Join her on her adventures in the world of Earthland with her new companions.
1. Prologue

**Disclamer: I do not own any of the characters from Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Fairy Tail. They belong to Rick Riordan and Hiro Mashima.**

After being struck down by her own father, Zoe Nightshade was lying there on the ground dying. She was acutely aware of the people surrounding her body as her vision began to fade. Her eyes were fixed on the sky above her. "Stars," she whispered. "I can see the stars again, my lady."

"Yes, my brave one." Said a familiar voice. It was the voice of her mistress, Artemis, whom she served for thousands of years as her lieutenant. Now her service was coming to an end. "They are beautiful tonight."

"Stars," Zoe said with her final breath.

"Let the world honor you my huntress," Artemis said over her ex-lieutenant. "Live forever in the stars." With Artemis's final gift, Zoe's soul became immortalized in the night sky as a celestial spirit.

When Zoe Nightshade woke up, she was standing on a platform surrounded by stars and planets all around her. She couldn't believe her eyes and then her mistress's final words to her echoed in her mind. _Live forever in the stars_.

"Thank you, my lady." She said silently. As she looked around her, she noticed strange looking creatures coming towards her. They were very small and came in various colors. Also, she noticed, all of them had round heads almost bigger than their bodies and pointy cones that she assumed were their noses. Having hunted monsters for thousands of years, she became wary of these strange creatures.

"Do not be afraid. The Canis Minor are only here to celebrate the arrival of the new celestial spirit." She turned around and jumped as she faced with a colorful giant. "Welcome to the Celestial World, realm of the stars. I am the Celestial Spirit king."

"My name is Zoe Nightshade, former lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis. Would you mind telling me what a celestial spirit is?"

"Celestial spirits are guardians of the night sky. Each constellation is a celestial spirit. As you cans see, the goddess Artemis immortalized your soul into the night sky." He gestured to an area of stars and they rearranged to form an image of a girl holding a bow and arrow. Zoe realized that it was herself that the collection of stars formed into. "Now you are a celestial spirit and will forever be a guardian."

Zoe realized that Artemis had once again given her an immortal life. She sent a silent prayer of thanks to her former mistress knowing that she will receive it despite being galaxies away. "Now," the Spirit King interrupted her thoughts. "It is time to debrief you on your new role as a celestial spirit." The next thing she knew, she and the Spirit King were flying through space. "You must know that there are millions of worlds in the universe other than the one you are familiar with." As they zoomed past stars, images of different worlds appeared which reminded her of iris messages. The idea of other worlds was not too much of a surprise as she lived in the world of gods when she was alive on Earth. They came to a stop at one image of a world in which magic was everywhere and was not hidden by the mist. The Spirit King began, "This particular world has beings known as celestial mages who are able to summon celestial spirits with gate keys such as this." An object appeared in front of Zoe. It was a bronze key with a bow and arrow symbol. "This key was forged out of celestial bronze by Artemis herself when you became a celestial spirit. It will enable a celestial mage to open the Gate of the Huntress and summon you into their world. This celestial mage will be your master and you must serve them to do whatever they require you to do. Given your skillset, it will most likely involve what you do best which is hunt."

"May I make one request?" asked Zoe.

"Of course."

"I would like only female mages to have the honor to possess my key and become my mistress. This way I can honor my oath to swear off men in gratitude to my former mistress."

"Very well then," said the Spirit King. He then waved his hand and the key flew towards the world of mages known as Earthland like a shooting star. Now all that's left to do is wait for her new mistress to summon her.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

In the world of Earthland, there is a country known as Fiore where magic flourishes. Those particular users who specialize in certain types of magic are called mages. These mages join guilds in order to do jobs. Two mages from the notorious guild known as Fairy Tail are on their way back from completing a job which involved catching a dangerous creature that was rampaging through the town called Carnation **(a/n a town I made up after the first flower that came into my mind)**. One of these mages is a young woman with blond hair wearing a skimpy blue outfit and the other is a pink-haired man wearing a recognizable white scarf and a black shirt with one sleeve on one arm and the other revealing the mark of his guild. These two mages were accompanied by a blue winged animal that resembled a cat.

"Come on Natsu, we are going to miss the train!" Said the blonde mage as she ran through the crowds trying to catch the train headed back to Magnolia where their guild hall resided.

"Aww, why can't we just walk back to Magnolia, Lucy? You know I hate vehicles," complained the pinkette known as Natsu.

"Because it will take a week to get back on foot while the train will get us there in a day. So suck it up! We are taking the train!" Replied Lucy. "Now hurry up! The train is about to leave… What?! Oh no! It's leaving right now." She tried to chase after the train but it was too late. The blonde mage came to a stop and sighed. "And I was really looking forward to going home and soaking in a nice hot bath."

"Yeah me too," said Natsu.

"You're not getting into the bath with me! And it's your fault we missed the train. You just had to use up your reward money on food."

"What else am I going to spend my money on? Well, it looks like we're walking." Natsu started to walk away.

"Not so fast," said Lucy pulling Natsu by the back of his shirt. "We need to find out when the next train is." She walked over to the ticket booth and asked, "When is the next train to Magnolia?"

"The next one leaves in four hours, miss," answered the ticket seller.

"Well that doesn't sound so bad. I guess we have some time to kill before the next train." She turned to Natsu and the blue exceed flying beside him. "So what do for four hours?"

The blue exceed known as Happy raised his paw in reply. "We could catch some fish."

"I'll pass on that. I know lets go shopping. I saw so many cute shops on the way here. It's a miracle that I have enough reward money to pay off my rent and still have some left over. I need to buy some new clothes."

"Why do you need new clothes for? If you ask me, one set of clothes is all you need," asked Natsu.

"Because for some reason my clothes get destroyed while we fight our enemies."

"Wow Lucy, If you're trying to seduce the enemy, you don't do a good job of it," commented Happy.

"Listen, cat! I'm not trying to seduce anyone and you're the one who always coming up with the seduction plans." Then she turned to Natsu. "Also, I'm a girl. Of course I need more than one set. Please don't tell me those are your only clothes."

"Of course they are. Who needs more than one set of clothes?" At this Lucy sweat dropped and decided not to go further with the conversation.

As they walked through the town of Carnation with Lucy taking the lead while the other two trailing behind, one store caught Lucy's attention and it wasn't a clothing store. This store sells magical items and as Lucy looked at the items displayed through the window, one particular item caught her eyes.

"Look at that!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Isn't that one of those gate keys you celestial mages use?" asked Natsu.

"It looks like it. I've never seen any gate key like this one. Usually they are silver or gold if it is a zodiac key. But this one is bronze. I'm going in to take a look."

She stepped through the door and was greeted by a rather eccentric man with slick hair that curled on top and a curly mustache. He came right up to Lucy and shook her hand rapidly. "Howdy doo, fellow customers! How may I help this fine young lady?"

Perturbed by the man's actions, she tried to pry her hand away but it was no use. "Uh, yes. First, mind if you let go of my hand?"

"Of course! Anything for you my beautiful flower." He exclaimed with stars in his eyes and a hand on his heart. Lucy might have taken this as a romantic gesture but she just found this man rather bizarre.

"Also, would you tell me about that bronze key in the window?"

"Most certainly!" he grabbed the key and showed it to Natsu and Lucy so they would have a better look. "This is a very special key forged from celestial bronze by the gods themselves. This gate key summons a brand new celestial spirit."

Lucy was very skeptical about this. "I've never heard of a gate key made out of celestial bronze, if there is such a thing. And how can there be a new celestial spirit?"

"Well if you must know…" All of a sudden, he grabbed Natsu, Lucy, and Happy, dragged them into the back room, sat them down on three chairs, turned off the lights and proceeded with a slideshow depicting stars. "As you can see, I have a passion for astronomy and have been charting them since I was a young boy." The next slide was a picture of the seller as a child holding a telescope. "Every night I would observe every star and constellation until one night I discovered something extraordinary." The slide showed a cluster of stars and lines connecting the stars revealing what looked like a girl shooting a bow and arrow. "That night, a shooting star came out of that bow and arrow and I knew it landed somewhere in this world. So I went on a journey to look for this shooting star. I searched far and wide using my star charts to guide me to where it landed." The next few images were of him traveling through storms, climbing mountains, even searching underwater until it landed on him standing in ruins staring at an altar. On that altar was the bronze key that was now in his shop. "I knew it was a gate key to summon a celestial spirit and couldn't wait to find out what kind of spirit it is. But sadly, I don't have the magic power to summon it so I have been waiting for a celestial mage to come by and give it a home."

Lucy thought for a moment, then spoke up. "That is quite a tale, and lucky for you I am a celestial mage and interested in this key. But I'm still skeptical about this key. Do you mind if I check the authenticity of this key."

"Go right ahead, my beautiful flower." Lucy ignored his attempt at flattery and Natsu seemed unimpressed.

"Alright then." She pulled out one of her silver keys. "Open, gate of the Southern Cross, Crux." A celestial spirit with a head shaped like a cross suddenly appeared.

"Ooohoohoo!" was the seller's reaction. "I always get so giddy whenever a celestial spirit appears. It's like seeing the stars up close. This is truly a day to remember! Let's see." He came up close to the celestial spirit to examine it. "Ah yes, the Southern Cross. He can tell you just about any information you want to know. Oh there is so much I want to learn. Tell me, what's it like being a celestial spirit? How many stars are there? What is the meaning of life?"

"Okay, that's enough!" Lucy interrupted. "I summoned him to confirm the authenticity of that key. Not answer your questions."

"Oh right, yes. I am truly sorry. That must've been rude of me. How can I ever gain back the favor of my beautiful flower?" Dramatic tears were pouring down his face.

"I don't think he ever had her favor in the first place," muttered Natsu to Happy.

"Alright Crux, can you tell me if this key can indeed summon a celestial spirit?" asked Lucy.

"Most certainly, Lucy." Then the celestial spirit instantly fell asleep.

"Ooh, is this how he retrieves information? How fascinating!" observed the seller.

"Just give him a moment," ordered Lucy.

Crux then suddenly woke up. "Aah, yes! This gate key is one of a kind, the only gate key to be made out of celestial bronze. It opens the Gate of the Huntress, a relatively new celestial spirit. We had a fantastic welcoming party back in the celestial spirit world for her."

"Thank you Crux. You have been a great service."

"Anything for you miss Lucy. Now it's time for my afternoon nap."

"You may return now." Crux then disappeared and Lucy faced the seller. "I have to have this key! How much for it?"

"Let's see… it costs 45000 jewel," replied the seller.

"45000 jewel? That's half my rent! Surely you could lower the price for your beautiful flower." She batted her eyes seductively at him hoping he would be turned on by her charm.

"Nope, I do not dilly dally with bargaining even with pretty girls such as yourself. I have a business to run," said the seller firmly.

"What's the big deal? You have plenty of keys, Lucy." Natsu was becoming impatient.

"This key is the only one of its kind, making it extremely rare. Even rarer than the zodiac keys. Also, I would be the first celestial mage to ever wield a celestial bronze gate key. I cannot pass up an opportunity like this."

"So what have you decided?" asked the seller.

Lucy contemplated for a few moments then came to a decision. "I'll take it. Here!" she placed the money on the counter. "45000 jewel just like you said."

"Well it's nice doing business with you, my beautiful flower. I trust that I am handing it in capable hands."

"Of course, I treat all my spirits like they are family."

"That is good to hear. It would be awful if I gave it to someone who would abuse a precious gem such as this."

"You don't have to worry. I'll take good care of it. I can't wait to get home and form a contract!" Lucy, Natsu, and Happy started for the door.

"Wait!" The seller ran to stop them. "Could you, perhaps, form the contract here? I traveled so far and hard in order to retrieve this key. I have always wondered what kind of spirit would come out of that gate."

"Alright then." Lucy smiled. She held out the key. "Open, Gate of the Huntress."

Then, in a flash of light, a girl appeared kneeling before Lucy. She had dark hair braided to the side and a silver circlet on her forehead. She wore hunting gear and a bow and arrow strapped to her back. "How may I serve you my lady," she said. "My name is Zoe Nightshade."


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

At the appearance of the new celestial spirit, the shopkeeper couldn't hold in his excitement. "Ooohoohoo! This is most definitely exciting." He took Zoe's hand. "How do you fair, sweet little flower?" Zoe was taken aback by the man's actions and became irritated. Rather than answering him, Zoe punched him in the face and he was sent flying across the shop. The shopkeeper was too shocked to move from where he landed.

"My apologies," she said, lacking sincerity in her words. "But I do not take kindly to men."

"Ahahaha!" Natsu along with Happy burst out laughing. "That was so awesome. I think I'm going to like this chick."

Zoe turned towards them with a look scarier than Erza's when her cake was destroyed. "I appreciate the complement but the feeling is not mutual, you pink-haired fool." At this, Natsu and Happy stepped back, trying to get away from her gaze. Zoe turned back to Lucy with a warm smile. "I believe we were in the middle of forming a contract before we were interrupted by those bafoons."

At first, Lucy just stood there confused at what just happened. Then she remembered, "Oh right, the contract. Well my name is Lucy Heartfilia. It's nice to meet you Zoe Nightshade."

"The pleasure is all mine my lady. How may I serve you?"

"This must be your first time forming a contract with a celestial mage since you are a new celestial spirit. So this is how it works, you tell me what times you are available and under what circumstances I'm allowed to summon you." Lucy explained.

"You are my mistress and I serve you alone. Use me as you please. I am available to you always." The celestial spirit replied.

"Wow, I have never had a spirit reply like that. So no restrictions on summoning you. Well then, I look forward to working with you. But none of that master-servant crap. I see all of my celestial spirits as equals and I consider you to be part of my family. So what do you say?"

Zoe smiled. This might not be as different as serving Artemis. Even though she could never compare to the goddess, Artemis always treated her and her former sisters with respect. Although Lucy is without a doubt very different from Artemis and will take time to get used to, Zoe could tell that she's a good person to have as her next mistress. "I say that I'm honored to have you as my mistress and would gladly join your family."

"I'm glad to hear that." Lucy held out her hand and Zoe shook it to complete the contract.

Happy flew over to them to examine the new celestial spirit. "So what can you do?" he asked.

"Well, as the name Huntress implies, I am very good at hunting techniques. I am able to track anything, very adverse in combat, and my weapon of choice is the bow and arrow."

"Hey Luce, don't you already have spirit who shoots arrows. Who was it? That's right Sagittarius!" Natsu entered the conversation.

Zoe gave him a look of disgust. "Do not compare me to that horse-brained dimwit. I am a much better archer than he ever will be."

"That's a lot of talk coming from a newbie. Why don't you prove yourself?" challenged Natsu.

"Gladly." That's when a bow and arrow appeared in her hands. She drew back the arrow aiming at Natsu.

"Wait, I didn't mean now!" Natsu panicked waving his arms in defense.

"Maybe we should wait until we get back to Magnolia." Lucy intervened. "Which reminds me. We need to head back to the train station if we are to catch the train on time."

"Very well my lady." Zoe's bow disappeared and Natsu let out a "Phew" relieved that the celestial spirit wasn't going to shoot him.

"Ooohoohoo!" The shopkeeper suddenly appeared. "Thank you so much for this wonderful experience." He said to Lucy. Then he turned to Zoe. "It is very delightful to finally meet you little flower."

"So, you are not angry that she punched you earlier?" asked Lucy.

"Why, of course not!" The shopkeeper seemed truly baffled. "Like humans, each celestial spirit has their own personality. That is what I find most fascinating about them. Being punched by this special flower is a moment I will treasure forever."

"Okay… Well it's about time for us to leave."

"Of course, I won't hold you back. Please, come by again if you are ever in Carnation. Toodles!"

"Well I guess it's time to close your gate. I'll see you soon, Zoe Nightshade."

"Farewell, my lady." Zoe disappeared and returned to the celestial spirit world.

 **A/N: Thank you for reading my story and thank you for the positive feedback to those who've reviewed my story. Those reviews are what motivated me to keep writing.**


	4. Chapter 3

**Sorry about not updating in so long. I had summer classes which took up a lot of my time.**

 **ShiroHollow96: this is very interesting and I love it so far. Though I wonder when is this set during fairy tail? Will Lucy be with Sting? Laxus? or Cobra? And how will Zoe react to Mirajane and Erza.**

 **Me: This story is set after the Grand Magic Games and before Tartaros. The answer to who Lucy will end up with, none of those guys or anyone for that matter. This fanfic is about the bond between celestial spirit and mage so don't expect any romance. And keep reading to find out how Zoe will react to Mirajane or Erza or the rest of the guild.**

 **Twila: I love the idea you had for this! is it alright if I use the idea of Zoe being a celestial spirit in a story? My friends and I would use a completely different plot and give you your rightly deserved credit.**

 **Me: Well Twila, since I don't know how to formally reply to this request, I will be answering your question here and hope you read this. Sure you can use this idea. Just let me know what you've got. I would love to read about your ideas.**

 **Mystery Guest: Did you draw the picture? It's beautiful! your writing too, is wonderful.**

 **Me: Thank you for liking my story. And yes, I did draw the picture. It was inspired by Maleficent and an evil version of Elsa and has no relevance to the story. I just used it on my profile because I like it so much.**

 **Thank you everyone for the positive reviews :) Now on with the chapter!**

Chapter 3

Natsu, Lucy, and Happy finally arrived back to Magnolia and walking towards the Fairy Tail guild hall. Natsu, still feeling a bit queasy after the train ride, fell back a few paces behind Lucy and Happy. "Man, why do we always have to ride that death trap? I don't think my stomach can handle riding any more vehicles."

"Come on Natsu, it wasn't that bad. We were only on that train for three hours," Lucy reprimanded Natsu.

"It felt like three years."

"Would you stop your whining? We're finally here." They walked through the doors of the guild hall. Lucy couldn't help but be amazed by the size and beauty of the guild hall every time she laid eyes on it. It had been a gift from the town after they won the Grand Magic Games. They couldn't thank the town enough for their generosity. "Hey everybody, we're back from completing the job."

"Welcome back Lucy. You too Natsu and Happy." A white haired woman greeted them.

"Thanks Mira, it's good to be back."

"So did anything interesting happen while you were on your job? I noticed that you were supposed to be back hours ago."

"Well, Natsu held us up at a restaurant stuffing his face with food for a while so we missed the train and had to wait four hours for the next one. Other than that, nothing much. We managed to complete the job without any damage for once. Oh, and I also got a new celestial spirit." Lucy held up the celestial bronze key to show Mira. Beside her, a curious Wendy moved closer to get a better look. "Wow, Lucy. That is so exciting. I wonder what this spirit is like."

"Well I could summon her so that you could meet her." Suggested Lucy.

"You would do that?" asked Wendy. "Yep." At this point a few fellow guild mates gained interest in the conversation.

"So Lucy's got a new celestial spirit, huh." Gray came over to the bar. Erza was right behind him. "Well then, let's see what this spirit is all about. It's always exciting meeting Lucy's spirits."

"Alright every one, stand back." Lucy held out the gate key. "Open, gate of the Huntress, Zoe." A doorbell ring and a flash of light appeared then died down revealing the young-looking girl kneeling in front of them.

"How may I be of service to you my lady?" The whole guild looked over in awe.

"Everyone, meet Zoe Nightshade, my newest friend. Zoe, this is everyone in Fairy Tail."

Erza walked up to Zoe to introduce herself. "It's a pleasure to meet you Zoe Nightshade. My name is Erza Scarlet."

"The pleasure is all mine Lady Scarlet. It is always nice to meet a fellow warrior such as yourself."

"Please just call me Erza. Welcome to Fairy Tail." Once Erza was done, Wendy came to introduce herself with a friendly smile. "Hi Zoe, my name is Wendy Marvell. Welcome to our guild. I like your hair. It's so pretty."

"Hello, Wendy. Thank you for the complement. You would have been a great candidate for the Hunt." Wendy looked at her confused but didn't have the chance to ask about what she meant by the Hunt. People started to gather around to get a better look.

"So this is then new celestial spirit. She looks pretty normal to me," Gray commented. "Not like the horse-head or twin voodoo dolls… -Oomf!" All of a sudden Gray was punched in the face and sent flying across the guild.

"How dare you strip in front of all these young maidens and seduce them you disgusting Neanderthal!" Yelled Zoe.

"Bwahahaha! She really handed it to ya, ice princess." Natsu burst out laughing. "I forgot to tell you she hates guys."

"Do I need to give you the same treatment?" Zoe turned to Natsu with demonic eyes.

"No ma'am." Natsu raised his hands in defense and backed away.

The other guild members started talking amongst themselves, commenting on the newest celestial spirit. "She's pretty cute," said Macao to Wakaba. "Yeah, she's a real man!" (do I really need to point out who said this?) But Zoe heard these type of comments and did not appreciate them one bit.

"How dare you insult me by reducing my worth by my appearance and then by comparing me to you low-lives." She looked at them in disgust.

"Wow, no kidding on the anti-men attitude. I think I'm going to like this girl," said Cana while she chugs down a barrel of booze.

"So, if you hate men so much, what would you do if you become contracted to a male celestial mage?" Levy asked out of curiosity.

"That's not possible. Only females may wield my key. It was a request granted by the Celestial Spirit King."

"Wow, I guess I should feel honored to be able to wield your key," Lucy chimed in. "But may I ask, why do you hate men so much?"

"I do not hate all men," Zoe said while thinking about the son of Poseidon, Percy Jackson. "But I have been betrayed by one in the past while I was alive."

This statement surprised everyone. Lucy was especially appalled at this idea. "While you were alive? But that means you died. And you look so young."

"Please, don't fret my lady," Zoe said in a soft voice. "I actually lived for thousands of years. Before I died, I lived in a different world called Earth where I was the lieutenant of a band of maidens known as the Hunters of Artemis. We were followers of the goddess Artemis who hunted monsters and carried out her will. I was young when I took the oath of maidenhood and became immortal. For thousands of years I served the Lady Artemis. The only way for a hunter to die is in battle. When I fell, Lady Artemis thanked me for my service by immortalizing my soul into the night sky. That is how I became a celestial spirit. To this day, I honor my former mistress by keeping my oath of maidenhood."

Lucy was shocked at this revelation. "Wow, you must have been really amazing to receive such an honor from a goddess. And I'm just wondering, how did you die?"

"Forgive me my lady. I am not sure if I am ready to reveal such details about my past."

"It's fine. It was probably rude of me to ask such a personal question anyway." Lucy smiled at her. "I think it's time to send you back to the celestial spirit world. Keeping you here is using up my magic power."

"Farewell, my lady." Zoe bowed to her before disappearing.


End file.
